Then-Supervisor Gordon Mar meets with reporters at San Francisco City Hall in 2019. Mar opposes Prop G, which mirrors a compromise he brokered in 2022 for car traffic on Great Highway.

Had it not been for the pandemic in 2020, there might be no controversy in San Francisco over what to do with the Great Highway.

It was former District 4 Supervisor Gordon Mar’s inquiry to city officials that first led to the closure of the Great Highway — when he sought to create outdoor recreational space for people stuck at home when the pandemic lockdown began.

After the lockdowns ended, some people wanted to keep the open space; others wanted their road back for their commutes. Mar brokered a compromise in 2022: weekend closures to car traffic as a pilot program to inform a permanent decision for the roadway. 

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